Wuxi Classic 2011 Day 4 - Mark Selby ended England Rival

Mark Selby won the Wuxi Classic 2011by beating Ali Carter 9-7 in the final. Unfortunately Eurosport did not broadcast the second session. What a shame!

Mark Selby - Wuxi Classic 2011 Winner

Selby showed his high constituency by hitting 92, 89, 81, 78, 66 and the only century in the match, 100 to write a perfect ending. The Jester also showed good and constant safeties which helped him to gain this victory.

Ali Carter

Although Carter lost in the match, I think he had tried his best to comeback from 5-8 fown to 7-8. Carter added a lot of safeties in the game recently while he also reduced taking chances of some long pots. It is very likely to explain his lost - Selby is a player who enjoys playing safeties battle with his opponent. You can hardly find advantages  in his safety game.

What always help Selby to win is - He has a brilliant mental quality. He is capable to cope with the pressure when his opponent is coming behind. Good example that illustrated it will be he beaten Ding Junhui in decider though Ding came from 2-5 down yesterday.

However Selby's game is sometimes too negative and defensive. He himself even admitted it before - it is a hinder of him to win more titles. Mark needs to open his game up in order to grab more tournaments in his bag.

Now Mark Selby enjoys a perfect start for the new season. Last season he reached two ranking finals but all lost. He only has one ranking title in big (Welsh Open 2008). Will the 2-time Masters Champion add more ranking titles to his name this season?
I look forward to it! :-)

Don't forget tomorrow will be the start of Snooker World Cup in Thailand. The two boys Mark & Ali will work together for England two days later. Hope they will get a good result for England!

Click here for Full Results of Wuxi Classic

Wuxi Classic 2011 Day 3 - World Cup England Team-mates meet in the Final

Time passed fast! It is the Day 3 of the tournament, as well as the Semi-Finals :-)

'The Magician' Shaun Murphy could not stop 'the Captain' Ali Carter to be taken off! The defending Champion lost to Carter by 3-6.

Carter successfully took the first frame with 58. The three frames afterwards were close. Safety and small breaks are commonly found in these frames. Carter took the first three before Murphy pull one back with 55. It is 3-1 before mid session.

The good form of Murphy did not continue after mid session ended. The Captain extended his lead to 4-1 with 87. Murphy gave a very good response, 93 in the next frame. However the Captain is getting stronger to make a 101 to reach 5-2.

The Magician showed his magic in the key time. When Carter hits 61 while Murphy is 45 points behind, Murphy reduced to 37:61. Some good snooker is followed, Murphy got enough foul points to win the frame by 71:63.

Carter did not give Murphy plenty chance in the next frame. He caught a mistake by his opponent to finish winning 6-3. Tomorrow will be his first appearance in the final of Wuxi Classic.

The opponent of the Captain was either Mark Selby or Ding Junhui. Eventually Selby won the drama in decider despite Ding cameback from 2-5 down.

Selby took the first frames by making a few quality snookers. Ding caught a chance left by Selby to make 55 in the second frame, also took the mistake well to get the third frame. Ding led for the first time in the match, 2-1. Selby hit 81 to level 2-2 before mid session kicked off.

The Jester continued his good form after mid session. Opened by 134 in the fifth frame, Selby stole the seventh frame as well to lead 4-2. Ding still could not find a chance in the eighth frame. He could only be a viewer to watch Selby knocked 64 to get the match point, 5-2.

Ding Junhui started his hard fightback. The Chinese Hero saved 2 match points by 71. The difference was only reduced to 1 frame, 4-5. Ding made a mistake when he led 40:0 in the next frame followed by 61 from Selby. Don't you think Selby could win easily? In fact, Ding cleared all the colours to force a respotted black.

This black determined if we had any decider! Ding did not disappoint the crowd by potting the respotted black! Ding came from 2-5 down to force a decider. What a dramatic match it is!

All the pressure was on The Jester. But The Jester did not shake, he kept his steady performance in the decider. First he made 61 and 21 after the fighting of colours. Mark Selby locked in Ding Junhui by 6-5.

Selby made a maximum break here in 2009 and being a runner-up in 2008. No doubt Selby will become more confident by winning this thriller. Will Mark win it this year?

Carter did not trip to China due to sickness last year. This time Carter makes it to the final and it is a good way to start the new season. Will Ali win one more in China after winning Shanghai Masters last September?

So the final line-up of Wuxi Classic 2011 will be Ali Carter v Mark Selby! What a coincidence that these two men are the team-mates of England in the World Cup next week! I am sure they will have a long practise session tomorrow before flying to Thailand! :-D

The first session of final starts at 6am (BST).

Click here for tomorrow's TV/Match Scedule, Drawsheet

Wuxi Classic 2011 Day 2 - Ding conquered Maguire in thriller

Second Day of Wuxi Classic continued! We had an awesome and exciting match today between Chinese Hero Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire.

Maguire's name is remain a mystery! No one noticed that they wrote his full name wrong... But it did not affect the performance of Steven Maquire in the match :)

Ding and Maguire did not show their forms in the first two frames but Ding won the them by scrappy breaks. Maguire seems found his tune in the third frame. He hits 87 to trail 1-2 before Ding knocked a 137 in the next frame. Ding held a 3-1 lead before mid-session.

'Steven Maquire' & Ding Junhui

Maguire's hand did not turn cold after the mid session. He made back-to-back centuries , 124 and 107 to punish Ding for his mistakes. This high standard match went 3-3. The standard did not drop in the sixth frame. Ding once again ahead of Maguire with 80, 4-3  but the Scot cleared the last red to force a decider.

The pressure came in the decider. Ding nearly forgot to shake hands with Maguire before it started :P Ding left a chance after he broke off but Maguire did not catch it. Each of them had chances to win the match. However Ding pot the last brown and blue to become the eventual winner.

China's new snooker star Yu Delu stopped at QF. He was beaten 3-5 by Ali Carter even though Yu led 1-0 and 2-1 early in the match. In fact, The Captain did not do really well in the match. I'm sure he needs to raise his form because his opponent in SF will be Shaun Murphy :)

Shaun Murphy won the contest of two former World Champions. The Magician enjoyed a good start with 102 in the first frame. Ebdon levelled with 46, 39. Ebdon showed his effort in making 2 successful snookers but Murphy pot the last red to go 2-1 up. Murphy caught a mistake by Ebdon to have clearance of 96.

Murphy continued his dominiation after the mid session, signed up a seat in SF with 69 in the last frame. Murphy won the match 5-1.

Mark Selby whitewashed Graeme Dott with top break of 92. His next challenge will be Ding Junhui tomorrow.

Click here for tomorrow's TV/Match Scedule, Drawsheet

Wuxi Classic 2011 Day 1 - Maguire (Maquire) beaten Liang to enter QF

Wuxi Classic started today! It is the first televised event in the new season; I know snooker fans cannot wait to watch! :) Because it is an invitational event, it starts from Last 16 to play!

A very poor mistake is made today during the night sessions. Related Organization spelled Stephen Maguire's name WRONG!! They wrote 'Maquire' on the scoreboard instead of Maguire LOL There was no amendments during the match, seems that they didn't know about this serious mistake! Here is the evidence:

Stephen Maquire? OF COURSE NOT!! STEPHEN MAGUIRE!!

Looks like the wrong spelling of Maguire's surname affected Maguire's performance today! Highest break of Maguire was 48 in the match. The two players did not play there standard before the mid-session, especially Liang Wenbo had missed some easy shots. Liang did not win a frame and 0-4 behind to enter mid-session. 

Why was my name spelled wrong? :P

Liang Wenbo found his form in the very important 5th frame. He hits a 60, 26 to trail 1-4 and so as the sixth frame. Maguire struggled and looked too relaxed after he led 4-0, his advantage was reduced to 2 frames only.

The seventh frame was the most exciting frame in today's match. Some high quality safeties were displayed. Liang tried to make a snooker but he fluked a final yellow and snookered at the same time. The match ended when Liang missed. Maguire won the match by 5-2, his opponent in QF will be Ding Junhui.

Former World Champion Graeme successfully came through to QF. He defeated China's Cao Yupeng with 5-2 despite losing the first frame, along with a break of 68. Cao had chances to hold a lead but he didn't take them well. Dott will face Mark Selby tomorrow for a SF spot on Saturday.

China's Yu Delu & Welshman Matthew Stevens

China's Yu Delu shocked us today. This young man beaten Matthew Stevens in the decider though Stevens forced to a decider from 2-4 down. Stevens found his way in the seventh frame to hit 96, 72 in the two frames. But the eventual winner was Yu Delu. Yu needs to fight a battle against Ali Carter tomorrow in QF.

Another World Champion Peter Ebdon completed a 5-3 victory over Rouzi Maimaiti with two centuires, 113 and 107. Ebdon now plays Shaun Murphy, the defending champion of the tournament.

Day 2 of tournament continues tomorrow on Eurosport.

Click here for tomorrow's TV/Match Scedule, Drawsheet

Wuxi Classic 2011 Draw

Wuxi Classic 2011 Draw has been made. The WPBSA tournament will run from July 7 to July 14 in Wuxi, China. Top players include Mark Selby & Ali Carter, former World Champions Graeme Dott, Peter Ebdon & Shaun Murphy, last but not least the local favourite Ding Junhui will compete in the tournament.

Shaun Murphy won Wuxi Classic after a tremendous comeback!

Shaun Murphy is the defending champion. Murphy came back to beat Ding 9-8 from 8-2 down, having 2-6 down after the first session ended. Great final we had last year!

Draw for Wuxi Classic 2011:

Match Schedule (All time are corrected to BST):

All matches before Semi-Final will be in Best of 9. Semi-Final will be in Best of 11 while Final will be played in two sessions (Best of 17 - 8/9). 

Early bird to watch the matches ;)

UPDATED: Drawsheet, Format & Match/TV Schedule